Good wine and translation – Marketing the unknown

 

[bottle of wine*]

Being allergic to grapes, I am far from a connoisseur of wine despite my French mother. Still, from time to time, I have to go to the store and choose an appropriate bottle of wine to bring as a gift or use in a boeuf bourguignon. As a non-expert, I look at the labels, the bottles and the price and make an uneducated guess which is ordinary vin de table and which is a distinguished vintage. Likewise, purchasers of translation and similar services must look for clues to somehow distinguish the risky providers from the ones they can trust. These service providers can learn much from the wineries in how to market their products and attain higher prices. Specifically, it is important to understand the similarities in market niching, messaging, framing and pricing.

It is clear that some people are neither interested in nor can distinguish a fine wine. Thus, they are not willing to pay more for a better product and are quite satisfied with a cheap fermented-grape liquid, a bit like Google Translate. On the other hand, for reasons of pride, need or personal taste, other wine buyers seek the extraordinary and pay a premium for it without hesitation on condition that they receive value of course. Likewise, with machine translation of various types readily available and often able to produce understandable texts, many translation purchasers do not require more than a satisfactory rendition of the text and view low cost as an essential factor. On the other hand, in some fields, particularly medicine, law and marketing, accuracy and seamlessness are vital for the success of these materials. These customers seek expert translators to provide local versions of the text with the knowledge that the benefits of a solid translation far outweigh any cost. As one expert said at a conference, there are two ways to make money as a translator: work quickly or specialize. Wineries and translators must choose a path.

Faced with a wall of similar sized bottles, I depend on the labels to provide me some clues to the quality of the wine. If I see a wine that claims “made from the finest grapes”, my initial question is whether there are wines made from the poorest grapes. On the other hand, “Graced the tables of Louis XIV, Napoleon and George Pompidou” or “Grand Cru ”indicate the vintners have a strong idea of what they are doing. In short, it is important to build trust in a few words. Translators also must express their uniqueness in a few words to build trust. “15 years’ experience”, “Certified Translator by X” and “20 years of professional background in Z”, to name a few, indicate that this person is superior to others. By contrast, “expert translator and “reliable editor” merely state the minimum requirements. So, extraordinary wines and translators must define themselves and express their distinctions to the buyer.

Seemingly minor, the form of the text on the bottle creates an impression. Like clothes, design elements such as font, pictures and aesthetics create an overall impression. Simply put, a cheap label indicates a cheap wine while a fancy label hints at a fancy wine. For translators, since many translation purchasers cannot distinguish proper translation from poor translation, they notice obvious visual elements. Therefore, translators need to make sure that the formatting is neat and identical to the original (or at least as identical as relevant). Obviously, translators must make every effort to avoid spelling errors. In particular, errors in spelling names can often upset customers. It is important to relate and explain any non-translated item, include charts and screenshots. As in wine labels, a classy look indicates a quality product.

Statistically in wine and translation, there is no correlation between price and quality. Some table wines are quite good while some expensive wines do not justify their price. Still, faced with two bottles with red liquid from the same grapes, I look at the price and assume, from lack of contrary information, that the more expensive one is better. So, if I want to bring a more impressive gift, I choose the more expensive option. Likewise, when customers that require a quality product receive varying price options, they assume that the translators with the lowest ones are less capable of providing that quality. In short, higher prices not only create more income per product but also may increase volume just like with wine.

Translators and providers of similar services need to focus their market, communicate with that niche, arrange the package elegantly and price it to complete that image. Lehaim, salut and nazdorovie to all.

*Picture caption help the blind full access the Internet.

Picture credit

Unlabeled futures

I was born, fortunately, in a non-diagnosing time in terms of assessment of children. Specifically, during my school years, my teachers, parents and administrators told us (or made it understood) what we good at and what we were not good at. These skill areas were academic, such as reading or math, motoric, such as skill in certain sports, and social, such as the ability to sit attentively in class or interact with our peers. I don’t believe that there were any pupils in my elementary school that thought they believed they were great, poor or average in everything.  We were like characters from a role-play game: strength in one aspect was at the price of weakness in another.

Yet, with all these assessments, I cannot recall that we ever told that we had any specific syndrome. This is probably due to the lack of awareness of such matters as well as lack of available professionals available to make such formal diagnoses. In some ways, we were as imperfect as the adults around us, which was perfectly normal. The positive aspect of this medical ignorance was that we were never told what could not do in the future. It was understood that children develop at different paces in different areas. In other words, on a skill percentile basis, the results of 6^th grade could be very different than those of 2^nd grade. Unless parents made some special effort, the improvement was completely organic and often painful, without outside assistance.

To give an example, from my early report cards, comments from parents and my memories, during elementary school, I was a serious, painfully shy student with a quick grasp of material and a cooperative attitude, a nerd if you wish. My weaknesses included poor handwriting, difficulty in learning how to read (remedied by around 3^rd grade), poor hand-eye and motoric coordination and over sensitiveness. For the purposes of the record, some 50+ years later, I am an experienced teacher with a strong presence in the classroom, a translator and editor. I play tennis and folk dance and married (twice actually), as well as raised a child to adulthood. So, one way or another, I have overcome all those weaknesses and created a complete life.

The fact that I never knew that I had (and have) two diagnosable conditions meant that I constructed no psychological barriers to my success. The cognitive barriers still exist; certain tasks are more difficult for me than for others, meaning I have to take more time or find different ways to accomplish them. That statement is true for all people of all ages and thus has no proscriptive importance. My refusal to state those conditions is precisely due to the fact that I do not want to have my capabilities labeled on the basis of a term. Instead, I want to be judged on what I actually do.

The implication for parents, educators, leaders and, most importantly, individuals of all ages, whether in schools or businesses, is that formal diagnoses, even when correct, are not predictors of current or future ability. Persons with dyslexia have become outstanding CEOs, albeit with a different style. A person with OCD can be a highly effective manager in all aspects. Perfectionists can evolve into ideal problem solvers. In the bottom line, individual choice, skill sets and circumstances determine the basis for personal success at any time, not medical labels. Ignorance can be bliss.